How can a person going to Moscow for business purposes select the most hospitable from all the hospitable metropolitan hotels? Most often, one has to select virtually, using printed booklets and Internet advertisements. But doesn’t everybody know that a gloss advertisement and real situation often appear quite different products?.. Therefore, one should learn how to look behind the advertising facade a bit earlier, preceding the events, rather than afterwards, when there is no alternative opportunity.
An excellent hotel...
What is a good hotel, in your opinion? Frankly speaking, there are no actually any criteria, which would clearly show that one hotel is “good” and another is “not so good”, or, if there are any such criteria, they easily fall within the sense of the proverb that one man's meat is another man's poison. Yes, certainly, there is professional expertise for the number of the hotel “stars”, but this situation is the same as that of the Oscar award, because there will be always those, who will state that they again “failed to award the right persons and products” but undeservedly did not pay attention to the latter for some unclear reasons… Strictly speaking, the estimation of the certain critics does not always coincide with the consumer estimations. For this very reason, various answers are given to the question about the hotel to be considered as good. Well, in any case, how can a person going to Moscow for business purposes select the most hospitable from all the hospitable metropolitan hotels?
An excellent hotel!
If one can hardly find the experts without blinkers of standards, we call for assistance to the forced experts, i. e., to the persons, who have to travel often and much for their business persons or for their official trips. These persons should certainly know what a good metropolitan hotel is. Any of these “experienced” persons can quickly list the parameters of “just a good hotel” and “a good hotel in all the respects”. Such “folk expert” can give the estimate to a hotel literally after a minute stay in a hospitable house and single look into the eyes of the personnel. And you can make sure that the “well-trained eye” will never deceive and the estimate will be always very accurate and fair. Here any mistakes are virtually eliminated, because the status of the “experienced guest” gives the right to state that the image of a hotel means something more than just architecture and design, marble, mirrors, and gold. The image of a hotel is determined by the personnel, and everything depends upon the latter only.
If the personnel is “good”, loyal, having really good attitude to the guests, positive, friendly, and thinking, what is most important, then the hotel is “good” as well; it will be reminded by the guest as the house, where his / her visit will be waited and sincerely pleasing. And a hall made of marble or encrusted with Karelian birch is not so important. However, we will not stretch the truth that the elegant interiors have certainly the own value. Like, for example, neatness and comfort. But all these things taken together are not more important than the team of professionals and their unnoticeable but effective (and this virtuosic) work. The matter is not only the ordinary courtesy, complaisance, and attention to the guests: we mean namely the atmosphere. We have aforementioned the standards, which determine the number of starts, but they are oriented only to the “technical” aspect of the matter and their nuances can be estimated by the experts only. Though the atmosphere is an ephemeral essence and falls far beyond the limits of standardization, it can be estimated by everybody and immediately. Do you know, what it is created by?.. Certainly, you should know! No? Well, in such a case, we will disclose to you the “dreadful” professional secret: atmosphere in the really good hotels is generated from the feeling of personnel enjoying the opportunity to be helpful for the own guests.
This is namely the way of the team members of our Aquarelle Hotel, which is hospitable in all the respects, understanding the essence of the own work: to appear at the right time in the right place, when and where the guest needs some help, advice, service, information… or, for example, quietness, peace, confidentiality. It is not so easy to understand the “aquarelle” of everybody’s temper, foresee, feel, be “tuned to the wave” of every guest; indeed, this is a special art. And here we have a lot to be proud of, because the Aquarelle team members have perfectly mastered this art.
Excellent… what?..
Today the very age orders: “excel or die!” If we refer to excellence, then we should note first of all that only “good” hotels would provide the guests not only with the “king-size services” but with the services, which are really necessary for the latter. For example, several years ago, Benjamin Hotel in Manhattan declared a unique service: they employed a sleep master, who has to provide deep sleep for the guests. Now this specially trained sleep master is responsible for the guests sleep quality (this service is guaranteed). According to the hotel administration, the qualification of their sleep master is so high that they surely state: in the case of sleepless night, the guest would pay nothing for it! Here the guest’s insomnia is considered as an “unfortunate misunderstanding”, for which the guest should be indemnified…
Nobody would argue that “excel or die!” is a wonderful, promising, and stimulating slogan, but it has not jet become in Russian hotel as actual as in Manhattan… Here the set of services is almost the same everywhere, save as some hotels offer a wider range of services, “even for the most demanding guests”, while others offer fewer services, “without any extras!”. On such unified background, our comfortable Hotel definitely excels others. We are sure that we can not only listen but also hear our guests; therefore, we do not specially have to invent any “new services”, they arise by themselves, crystallizing from the real needs of our guests. In particular, in this very way, Aquarelle started a special service project, which we decided to refer provisionally to as the “Lady’s Companion”.
The matter is that Aquarelle often hosts the guests, who visit Moscow for their business purposes. These businessmen often have to attend official and unofficial events. However, as we know, the protocol always prescribes to attend such events with the spouse. Apparently, with respect to the very busy schedule of visit to Moscow, a businessman or official has got no opportunity to spend time for his wife, who is accompanying him for the sake of the given protocol event. Not to reduce the sense of her visit to the functional attendance at the event, Aquarelle developed a special project. Our “Lady’s Companion” is a great complex programme, which details will not be discussed herein. We will note only that due to this flexible and variable programme, the wife of our hotel's guest will spend the “business trip” time in Moscow interestingly and usefully. While her husband is doing his business, she will be accompanied with our experienced companion to visit not only the metropolitan museums and exhibition halls but also the most fashionable shops, cafes, studios, salons, boutiques, and clubs, to get acquaintance with the leading metropolitan stylists and designers, couturiers, jewellers, and even pedigree animal farmers. This programme may be drafted and discussed in advance or improvised on the run. There are virtually no restrictions, with few exceptions. For example, is the guest’s wife would like to visit famous Anne Semonin spa salon in Tretyakovskiy Lane, then her companion should be notified in advance; though the prices of this salon are impressively high, there is always a lot of those wishing to get the own portion of youth and beauty there (by the way, Anne Semonin salon gives a discount of 10 per cent for the Aquarelle guests).
We offer a lot of such small but pleasant bonuses, but they are not the only things, which charm the guests of Aquarelle. What else? Having once become the guest of this small but excellent metropolitan hotel situated in the excellent place, you will understand its favourable excellence over others. Visit us! Our “experienced” guests are recommending and we will be pleased to serve you excellently.
